The head of state-run Ukranian energy company Naftogaz is ready to step down if it would help the business to restructure its debt in the wake of Russia’s invasion, he told Reuters on Wednesday.
CEO Yuriy Vitrenko’s position came under scrutiny last month after the Ukraine government openly criticised the company’s handling of the debt restructuring request, which appeared ill-coordinated with the government’s own request for a freeze in debt payments several weeks later.
Naftogoz creditors have twice rejected the company’s request to defer debt payments for two years in the wake of Russia’s invasion, leaving the energy giant in default.
“Of course, for the good of the country … if it’s about that,” Vitrenko told Reuters when asked if he would step aside if it would help to convince investors to back a freeze in debt payments. “I’m not married to this seat.”
The former investment banker said he realised his job had become “a hot seat” but said he had been in close touch with investors and had not heard “even a hint that a change of the CEO would have any kind of influence” on their decisions.
He said investors understood that the company’s decision to seek a restructuring was made by the government, not the company’s management.
“It was not my decision from the very beginning of the restructuring,” he said.
The company said on Aug. 17 that its 2022 bondholders had rejected a sweetened proposal to suspend its debt payments for two years.
The company has yet to disclose results of additional requests put to 2024 and 2026 bondholders to defer payments on those bonds.
Naftogaz, which accounted for almost 17% of Ukraine’s total budget revenue last year, has fallen into default after failing to make a number of interest payments last month.
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